World International Affairs Colombian authorities on Thursday apprehended 27 people who are allegedly part of four smuggling networks that recruited youths to ingest thousands of cartel money in latex capsules and send them from Mexico to the South American country. The suspects were arrested as part of an operation called “Link,” Colombian newspaper El Espectador reported. The swallowed capsules contained money from undisclosed Mexican cartels, which was later used in exchange for cocaine shipped by Colombian organized crime, National Liberation Army and dissidents from the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Reuters reported. Smuggling networks used other methods to send money to Colombia, such as attaching cash into an individual’s body or hiding it in double-bottomed suitcases. Those arrested would face charges of conspiracy, money laundering and illicit enrichment. The networks, which were disbanded with the assistance of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, recruited poor young people who had to swallow between 80 and 120 capsules with money before traveling back to Colombia, Colombian national police General Jorge Hernando Nieto told Reuters. The members of these networks traveled between Colombia and Mexico at least 250 times since 2015. A police officer counts money while a seizure of 102 Kgs of cocaine is presented to the press in the Police headquarters in Bogota, on April 3, 2013. Colombians authorities said that young people who belonged to smuggling networks could ingest up to $75,000. GUILLERMO LEGARIA/AFP/Getty Images “With each ingestion they could bring in up to $40,000, there’s even a case… [Read full story]